Renee Li NT’s big hope in World Table Tennis Youth Contender in Darwin
Renne Li leads the Territory’s charge in Australia’s only Table Tennis Youth Contender Tournament in Darwin. Find out all the event’s info and chech out our 30-plus photo gallery here.
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The world’s best junior talent has descended on the NT for the World Table Tennis Youth Contender Darwin 2023 Tournament.
More than 300 matches will be played across the three-day competition as players from under-11s girl’s to under-19s boy’s go head-to-head at Marrara Indoor Stadium.
Hosted by Table Tennis Northern Territory, this will be the third time the WTT event has been held in Darwin having been run in 2019 and 2022.
“It’s the only event of its kind in the country, and kicks-off today and will run till Sunday,” International Table Tennis Federation’s executive vice president Graham Symons said.
“It is part of the world junior circuit and earns world ranking points for players.
“It is also the only such event in Australia.”
The current Table Tennis Australia President said he is hoping to make the tournament an annual event moving forwards.
“We (TTNT) have a contract with WTT to run a similar event in 2024 and hope to make it annual occurrence,” he said.
Darwin’s own table tennis star Renee Li is the Territory’s only player in the tournament, and Symons said she was looking to continue her recent run of form.
“Renee (Runshu Li) has been playing at the Darwin club for about six-years now,” the TTNT director said.
“She is in the Australian Table Tennis Development Squad and participated in the High Performance Training Camp held here (Darwin) over the past six days with ITTF High Performance Elite Coach Massimo Costantini.
“Renee has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in her age group in Australia over several years and has ranked as highly as second.”
The tournament is a great test for Li, who faces challenges playing out of the NT as the only girl in her age group.
“She (Li) faces challenges in Darwin as there are no other girls of her age at her standard,” Symons said.
“She has played in the A-grade competition in Darwin for three-years now.”
* The full playing schedule and progressive results will be on HERE.
* Table 1 matches will also be live-streamed on the WTT YouTube channel or through the WTT App.
ACTION FROM DAY 1 OF THE TOURNAMENT
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